


To Take Arms Against a Sea of Troubles

by kindervelter



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Barry Allen... eventually, F/M, Gen, Legends of Tomorrow Team... eventually, Sara Lance... eventually, Supergirl... eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-08-14
Packaged: 2018-08-08 16:29:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7764940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindervelter/pseuds/kindervelter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Starts off as a fix-it fic for the season 4 finale and cleans up a lot of the finale's missteps, then basically becomes an AU for season 5.  In a world where Oliver and Laurel faked her death to stop Darhk, the final confrontation against him takes a very different turn and the team has a brief, joyous reunion before having to face off against a threat that affects them all: a mysterious new villain hunting down and killing vigilantes.  Fic starts out with mostly players from Arrow, but eventually includes characters from Legends, Flash, and Supergirl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Take Arms Against a Sea of Troubles

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all.   
> This is my first Arrow fic so I don't totally know how it'll be received, but I hope everyone enjoys. Basically like a lot of people I was not super happy with the way the season 4 finale went, and was especially unhappy with the death of the Black Canary/Laurel Lance, so here's a legit good fic in which that finale is fixed and Laurel comes back from the dead. Starts out kind of slow in this chapter just laying ground work for the alternate universe-ness of it, but next chapter it picks up I promise. I love reviews, but I especially love if you read and enjoy!

Canary, Interrupted

_The Arrow Cave_ _\- 11:08 p.m. - May 7, 2016_

The bunker was a mess -- but there was no time to focus on that. 

She’d already had to rappel down the elevator shaft, and things didn’t look like they were about to get any easier as she entered the bunker proper. The rubble field was… negotiable, but finding the suit in this mess was going to be a task, and time wasn’t exactly on her side. Finally she spotted it on the other side of the room lying beneath a collapsed beam and muddled in with a sea of shattered glass. The suit was tattered, to be sure, but the black leather was as tough as the day Sara had first put it on -- it would take more than a cataclysmic explosion to knock out one of the Canary’s suits. 

She brushes off all the soot and grime she can before stuffing it into her pack and hauling ass across the room and up out of the bunker before the place caves in on itself. Topside, she checks the smashed clock on the wall and curses under her breath. It would be tight, but there was still a chance they could pull it off. She pulls out the suit.

* * *

 

The People V. Damien Darhk: Star City Crime Story 

_ The Streets of Star City - 11:36 p.m. - May 7, 2016  _

The battle between Oliver Queen, aka the Green Arrow, and Damien Darhk, aka Star City’s latest in a long line of uber-villains with questionable motives, had been prolonged, bloody, and confusing; the desecration of Darhk’s idol several months earlier had seemingly left the criminal powerless, and his swift imprisonment felt like a decisive end to the magical chapter in the Green Arrow’s life. And yet for reasons beyond even his own comprehension two fully insane things happened that precipitated Darhk’s meteoric return to power: Oliver and the team decided to reassemble the idol to investigate it further, and Malcolm Merlyn decided to take Darhk’s side and break the legitimate psychopath out of prison. Fully inexplicable occurrences, and yet they’d led Oliver to where he was today -- being magically choked out by a glorified Draco Malfoy cosplayer. 

He was just hoping she’d get there soon, because he couldn’t go a lot longer without blacking out. The irony of the situation was not lost on him -- he’d started out with a steely resolve to keep his vigilante side job a one man show, and now he was fully relying on someone he’d spent the better part of a year berating and shaming in a bid to get her to drop out of crime-fighting. Thankfully she was more forgiving than some of the other women in his life. 

Speaking of the women in his life: here came Thea with a flying spin kick directed at Darhk. He seems to have learned something from his last encounter with Thea because instead of attempting to use his magic on her he simply side steps the kick and counters with a rabbit punch which puts her down (though not for long). He whistles for some of his goons to take care of her, and while they’re obviously no match for Speedy they do their job and keep her busy. Luckily, it’s been a long enough distraction for Oliver to break momentarily free of Darhk’s grip and reach his bow. He has an arrow nocked and fired off before Darhk can refocus his attention on him and Oliver grins as it grazes his leg, dark red blood oozing into his ugly grey suit pants. Darhk looks miffed at best by this development and rolls his eyes as he Darth Vader’s Oliver’s neck, though this time with more annoyance. 

“Well, Green Arrow, looks like you’ve come full circle: you started this crusade in the back alley’s of this worthless town and that’s where you’ll end it as well. How’s it feel to know that even if your girlfriend manages to stop the rockets Star City will still burn?” Darhk asks, inching closer and closer to his face and giving Oliver a full view of extreme megalomania in action. Of all the things Darhk had done, the most annoying by far was his habit of asking rhetorical questions to the victim of a near-strangling; this conversation was proving to be a tour de force in just that. 

“The worst part of it all is that your other little friend couldn’t be here to see the show. Poor, poor Black Canary. Pretty bird didn’t stand a chance against my magic -- not as a vigilante or as that half-wit district attorney. Whatever was her name, anyway?” he asks, his nose only inches from Oliver’s. There are spots dancing in front of his eyes and he knows he’s only moments from passing out. If some badass was going to show up out of nowhere and answer Darhk’s question before heroically saving the day, right now would be the opportune moment. 

“Laurel Lance.” The words seem to float out of nowhere, and there’s genuine surprise on Darhk’s face when he hears them. His grip on Oliver’s throat loosens a merciful inch as the magician looks around, confused and, if Oliver’s not mistaken, a little frightened. 

“Nervous, Damien?” Oliver asks. Darhk’s head whips back towards him, and Oliver can see that he’s on edge in that split second. Their eyes meet only for a moment, but it’s all the time she needs to make her move: out of the damn shadows comes Dinah Laurel Lance, ADA by day, kickass vigilante by night. She’s wielding her tonfas and -- biggest surprise of all -- is alive. Second biggest surprise of all? She's got the idol. 

Darhk’s so stunned that he doesn’t even retaliate immediately, just stands there looking confused. Finally he seems to gather his wits and reaches a hand out towards Laurel to snap her neck with his magic, but she's quicker: she activates the cry and Darhk’s hands instinctively go to protect his ears. She rushes him, rolling the idol across the ground towards Oliver and taking a flying leap at her almost murderer. She smashes one of the tonfas into his face, hooking his leg with the other and sending him sprawling to the ground. She’s on top of him in a second, punching him in the face in a kind of manic, “you killed me so take it, bitch” way. He doesn’t take it for too long before using his magic to blast her across the pavement. 

It wasn’t a long beat down, but long enough for Oliver to get his bow and load in another arrow -- a special one. 

“You ready, Ollie?” Laurel asks as she peels herself off the pavement. He gives her nod and nocks the arrow, preparing to fire. 

“Let’s finish this.” 

Oliver releases the string and feels the tension in it dissipate as the arrow shoots out straight and true towards the idol. It hits, driving deep into the stones. The arrow alights a few times, flashing manically. 

_ Boom.  _

The idol explodes in a shower of stone and dust, filling the air with a twinkling powder that falls around Oliver, Laurel, and Darhk like snow. The commotion in the streets dies down and the world seems to slow to a stop as the trio stand there, stunned, looking between one another for an interminable moment. Then Oliver fires another arrow, and it's over.


End file.
